A New Life, A New Menu: An Almanac of Belonging

by Marina Baronas

A New Life, A New An Almanac of Belonging begins with the scent of a grandmother’s kitchen, the weight of Soviet winters, and the quiet discipline of setting a perfect table before the guests arrive.

It carries the reader across continents and languages, through kitchens and dining rooms, into the unseen world of service, where long nights and early mornings shape not only a career, but a soul.

This is not a manual on hospitality. It is a story of exile and arrival, of heartbreak and reinvention, of the invisible work that builds dignity and the quiet resilience it takes to belong.

It is for those who have carried their roots across borders. For those who have worked until they were unseen. For those who know that service is not performance, but humanity.

This is my journey, but within it, perhaps, you will find your own.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 21, 2025

About the author

Marina Baronas is a hospitality executive, mentor, and storyteller with over 27 years of leadership experience in food and beverage operations across the United States and Europe. Born in Germany and raised between Lithuania, Russia, and Azerbaijan, she immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of a life rooted in dignity, identity, and quiet transformation.

Now based in Tampa Bay, Florida, Marina brings her lived experience as an immigrant, mother, and hospitality leader into her writing. A New Life, A New Menu is her debut memoir.